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Data from: Does hugging provide stress-buffering social support? A study of susceptibility to upper respiratory infection and illness

Cohen S, Janicki-Deverts D, Turner RB, Doyle WJ

Date Published: October 17, 2014

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g7b40

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Title

Does Hugging Provide Stress-Buffering Social Support_replication data set

The replication data set is provided as an annotated SPSS data file (.SAV), and contains all variables necessary to conduct the analyses reported on in the associated publication. Data are represented by 57 variables, which are described in detail in the code book that appears in the attached README.pdf document. The code book provides a descriptive label for each variable, as well as value labels for categorical and dichotomous variables (when necessary). Missing data are represented by empty cells.
The data set includes both input variables and variables that were created from the input dats. The latter are indicated with an asterisk (*). Information on the algorithms used for creating computed variables is provided in the associated manuscript.
Included alongside the data set is an SPSS syntax file (.sps) that includes code for all analyses reported in the manuscript’s results section.

AbstractPerceived social support has been hypothesized to protect against the pathogenic effects of stress. How such protection might be conferred, however, is not well understood. Using a sample of 404 healthy adults, we examined the roles of perceived social support and received hugs in buffering against interpersonal stress-induced susceptibility to infectious disease. Perceived support was assessed by questionnaire, and daily interpersonal conflict and receipt of hugs were assessed by telephone interviews on 14 consecutive evenings. Subsequently, participants were exposed to a virus that causes a common cold and were monitored in quarantine to assess infection and illness signs. Perceived support protected against the rise in infection risk associated with increasing frequency of conflict. A similar stress-buffering effect emerged for hugging, which explained 32% of the attenuating effect of support. Among infected participants, greater perceived support and more-frequent hugs each predicted less-severe illness signs. These data suggest that hugging may effectively convey social support.